About 30 kms out of Luang Prabang, is the Kuang Si Waterfall. It is mentioned hundreds of times daily, because the tuk-tuk drivers in town are always suggesting it as a place you should go!

“Tuk-tuk? Waterfall?” is the daily greeting from the tuk-tuk drivers. And most people eventually take them up on it.

Green Discovery Tours in the main street has a daily mini-van service. For 50 000 kip (approximately $7), they will pick you up from your guest house or hotel and return you there afterwards.

So we went. And we loved it.

Only a couple of minutes along the trail to the falls you come to the bear rescue centre. In a large enclosure in a beautiful setting, there are heaps of brown bears that have been rescued from captive situations. Here they are kept in a nice environment and fed well. Only one step from being in the wild, they were happily frolicking about on the day we visited.

A fifteen minute walk takes you to three beautiful waterfalls. The final one is the highest and most stunning. Surrounded by mountain scenery, it looks like something off a postcard. The colour of the water is a stunning blue.

At the lower falls there is a great water-hole where you can swim right up to the falls. The water is refreshingly cool and there’s a rope swing attached to a nearby tree for the more adventurous.